piece of crap headers - i give up

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jasonmrenda

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summit headers
got the drivers side on, pow steering box and mini starter in. now cant get the drivers side header in. have engine jacked up, car is 1.5 feet off the ground but the damn header wont clear the trans dipstick pipe. wtf? 7 hours to install 1 friggin header. i am NOT happy right now. anyone want a 67 piece of crap dart? noticing a ton of rust underneath too. awesome.
 
jasonmrenda said:
summit headers
got the drivers side on, pow steering box and mini starter in. now cant get the drivers side header in. have engine jacked up, car is 1.5 feet off the ground but the damn header wont clear the trans dipstick pipe. wtf? 7 hours to install 1 friggin header. i am NOT happy right now. anyone want a 67 piece of crap dart? noticing a ton of rust underneath too. awesome.
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Sounds like its time for a break. The trans dipstick tube is removable if need be, and I was watching a show the other day and they showed a flexible tube and stick for hot rods with clearance issues.
 
boo yeah - i got em done

had to jack the whole car up about a foot then use a pry bar to push aside the trans dipstick and slide the header past it
 
Ya he said he was giving the dart away.So how do i get this free dart.I know Johnny Cockrin.LOL Glad you got them in they can be a bugger at times.Now you should check your steering left to right to make sure all is well to.
 
Jason after all the problems how do your Summit headers fit. I know they are cheap and thinking about a set myself. Most a body headers are a *****.
 
For $99 you get what you pay for,wait till your prying them back off in about 2 years when they rot out....
 
Glad you got it done. I have cheap headers on the Duster and cheap headers suck.
 
Well, It's unfortunate I'll be buying those too. That's all I can afford right now. I'm going to paint over them about 50 times first with High temp paint. I am hoping that will at least slow the rusting progress!

If you guys have any tricks of installing these PLEASE let me know. They will be on a fresh engine too. so maybe if they are already on the engine why I install it wont be so bad? Maybe??
 
thanks all
to be honest i cant put all the blame on the headers. if i had paid more attention to the destructions, it may have only taken me 6 hours instead of 7.

actually most of the problems were because i only have 2 hands, am working on an uneven and uncomfy driveway, and i've never even changed a battery in car nevermind an engine/starter/trans/brakeline/brake swap.

once i raised then engine and figured the proper procedure for the drivers header, it wasnt too bad.

1 - remove tie rods, oil filter, and steering arm from steering arm thing.
2 - install steering arm thing through headers FIRST. duh. had the headers on in 4 minutes then realized what i'd missed.
3- jack engine up as far as possible without removing eng mount bolts all the way
4 - slide headers up
5 - install power steering box. this was fun. if by fun you like getting kicked in the nads by bruce lee wearing steel toed boots, then it was fun
6 - install a mini starter. much easier though i did get the stock one in but of course the studs to attach the wires to started spinning 360 degrees so out it came and in went a new mini starter. 10 minutes.
7 - keep engine jacked up. try sliding pass side header in and pry back dipstick tube if needed. i needed to raise the whole front of the car about 8 inches to have enough room to finagle the header.

they are in. so much for the coats of paint i applied though lol.

sheesh.
 
and i've never even changed a battery in car nevermind an engine/starter/trans/brakeline/brake swap.
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Then you've got balls and drive to learn and find out what alot of us have gone through ourselves, so I tip my hat to you and say I think your one of us few guy's out there in the world willing to take a shot on the chin while cutting our teeeth learning how to do something ourselves and screw the guy that'll charge you $700 bucks to put it in.

I have noticed that the instructions for some things must be followed exactly and the instructions for headers should come with an "*" saying, it's just damn easier to take out the whole engine to put these SOBing tubes in.

A word of note here, I have used the summitt/jegs exhaust and it wasn't neearly as hard to install as the headers.
 
Yea, that does take balls!

Did you have to use a mini-starter?

Would it be easier with the engine out first?

Thanks!
 
Did you have to use a mini-starter?
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Technicaaaallly, no.

I've had the Sumitt headers before. You can use your OE starter. Back some years now, (20 or so...eeek! ) I had a good parts man behind the counter and he wondered why I was going through so many starters. (1 a month) and I told him I had headers. He told me, "You need the "High Temp 360 starter"
Food for thought.

When I couldn't get a high temp unit, I used some old header wrap around the starter and tube in that area. Problem solved.

Then I discovered the mini starter.

Would it be easier with the engine out first?
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IF it's allready out, yes! IF the engine is in, I have found that getting the engine and car up high enuff is impossible for a easy slip in of the header. So hence my quip, take the engine out.

IF your engine is out and your headers are placed in the bay with the engine going in, suspened the headers with a coat hanger or 2. Have 2 freinds on hand to make this a smooth and quick project as the engine goes in.

Also, no studs on in the head. I have found they get in the way of installation. It maybe of some help if the engine is allready out, but not when it's in.
 
If installing the headers with the engine out, do you still have to take the tie rod off?? Is that just part of the installation?

Someone said the headers where $99.00, they are $105.00 now. I guess that's only $6.00 but did the price go up?

Not only that, I thought Headman, and Hookers might be better, but I don't think they are. They look exactly the same and $79.00 more!

Thanks!
 
I have Hedmans on my 68 Barracuda and the passenger side goes in from the top with no fuss. The drivers side has to go in from underneath and the easiest way is to remove the steering column and unbolt the steering box move it over. Taking the column out and unbolting the steering box takes about 30 minutes. With those out of the way the drivers side header goes right in. Once inplace hold it against the block with bungie cords and bolt the steering box back up. Then bolt the header to the block and put the column back in. I bet you can install the drivers side in 1-1.5 hours following this procedure and that includes R&Ring the steering column.
 
I put the Heddmen ones in my car with the help of my Brother in law it took us about 6 hours with the help of beer and many breaks. I had the front end apart for a suspension rebuild so all that was out of the way unbolted the engine, jacked it up as far as it would go, pulled the steering box and column, dropped drivers in from top and the passenger from the bottom. The drivers I didn't have to ding at all the passenger that was a different story.
 
I sure am glad I'm staying with the cast iron manifolds on my
360 build.

mechanic.gif
 
myasylum said:
Well, It's unfortunate I'll be buying those too. That's all I can afford right now. I'm going to paint over them about 50 times first with High temp paint. I am hoping that will at least slow the rusting progress!

If you guys have any tricks of installing these PLEASE let me know. They will be on a fresh engine too. so maybe if they are already on the engine why I install it wont be so bad? Maybe??
Click to expand...

Take the engine out.

Been there and done it, A-body headers are tough.
 
stroked 340 said:
For $99 you get what you pay for,wait till your prying them back off in about 2 years when they rot out....
Click to expand...

And that's 2 years if you live in the desert. If you have any type of weather, they're already rusting out....but don't worry. You'll probably rip them out on a speed bump first!

Headers.... the bane of every A Body enthusiast! :angry7:
 
Yous guys are making me freak whether to start a new thread about headers or not!
Sheesh,there that much of a pain in the *** to install!!?
 
nemesis said:
Yous guys are making me freak whether to start a new thread about headers or not!
Sheesh,there that much of a pain in the *** to install!!?
Click to expand...
Almost any header for any car is a pita.. try the big tti underchassis headers in a 69 dart on a 440 (that was a 2 day job and i had to pull the trans back out)
 
Not if you use Schumacher Tri-Ys..8)

They don't even capture the full sized Starter...


I used them in my '68 Dart GT's 383 B-Block conversion (from a 273).

You can see them in my Sig-Pic below..


Yeah, they are on the expensive side of the scale, but what's your time worth..?
 
It took me 20 minutes with two friends helping. I did it the way rumble suggested (engine was out of the car already). We hung the headers in the bay with wire and just stuck them on as the engine was lowered in. These are Doug's brand.

P1030840%20%28Large%29.jpg
 
RedScampi said:
It took me 20 minutes with two friends helping. I did it the way rumble suggested (engine was out of the car already). We hung the headers in the bay with wire and just stuck them on as the engine was lowered in. These are Doug's brand.
Click to expand...

Do the DOugs work with column shift?
 
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